A Fundamentalist View of Hell

[Lady Julian]

Point taken. Enjoy your literal discussion!

Before I bow out gracefully, I did want to note that I personally have found the medieval writers practical. You raise some good questions when you ask why God doesn't prevent people from going to Hell (at least in the more traditional viewpoint), why He "set us up for eternal destruction". It's troubling question.

I brought up the medieval perspective as one possible answer to this question, because to medieval believers, God doesn't send people to Hell; they send themselves, whether they go through hell on this earth or after death. I think this answer has the benefit of making God less of a monster for "setting people up for eternal destruction" and giving his own special creatures the power of choice.

But that's really all I've got, because I'm much more of a literature person than a theology person. I'll leave the question to people on the forums who've read more theology than I. Good luck on finding answers to your questions!